THE  NEWSPAPER  AS  AN  AGENCY  FOR  CIVIC  SERVICE 


BY 


ALTA  R.  HAHN 


THESIS 


FOR  THE 

DEGREE  OF  BACHELOR  OF  ARTS 

IN 

ENGLISH 

(JOURNALISM) 


COLLEGE  OF  LIBERAL  ARTS  AND  SCIENCES 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


1922 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/newspaperasagencOOhahn 


/ 922 
HI  2 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

May  24 


THIS  IS  TO  CERTIFY  THAT  THE  THESIS  PREPARED  UNDER  MY  SUPERVISION  BY 

MISS  ALTA  R.  HAHN 

ENTITLED.  ^_1^SPAPER_  _AS__AN  AGENCTT  _FOR  .CIVIC  _ SERVICE 


IS  APPROVED  BY  ME  AS  FULFILLING  THIS  PART  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS  FOR  THE 
DEGREE  OF  ?fpEELOE  OF  APTS_ IN  ENGLISH  (.JOURNALISM) 


Instructor  in  Charge 


HEAD  OF  DEPARTMENT  OF 


... 


77 


1. 

The  Newspaper  as  an  Agency  for  Civic  Service 

# s|c  s{c 

7/hen  the  first  newspaper  in  America  was  issued  from 
Harris'  "London  Coffee  House"  in  Boston  in  1690,  there  was 
latent  in  that  three-paged  modest  colonial  ancestor  of  our 
modern  journalism  the  germ  of  the  fourth  function  of  the 
newspaper.  Because  "Publick  Occurances"  exposed  the  "bar- 
baric treatment  suffered  by  French  prisoners  at  the  hands 
of  Indian  allies  of  Governor  Winthrop's  troops,  the  paper 
was  suppressed  after  the  first  issue.  The  spirit  of  service 
had  been  caught  by  the  very  first  editor. 

Civic  service  is  sometimes  referred  to  as  the  latest 
development  of  the  public  press,  as  though  this  function 
had  been  added  by  some  artificial  process  in  recent  years, 
whereas  it  was  in  reality  inherent  in  the  newspaper  from 
the  very  beginning.  The  traditional  beliefs  concerning  the 
proper  functions  of  the  newspaper  still  linger  in  the  jour- 
nalistic world.  The  older  idea  of  "news,  opinion,  enter- 
tainment and  instruction"  has  not  been  entirely  outgrown. 

One  group  of  editors,  represented  among  the  older  journalists 
by  James  Gordon  Bennett,  still  believes  that  the  newspaper 
is  fundamentally  a news gathering  and  news-dispensing  agency 
and  that  a paper's  interest  in  seeking  to  develop  its 


2. 


possibilities  as  an  agency  for  civic  service  should  he  only 
secondary  if  entered  into  at  all.  The  opposing  group,  once 
led  by  Horace  Greeley,  believes  in  the  newspaper  first  as  a 
molder  and  guide  and  creator  of  public  opinion.  The  func- 
tion of  advertising  has  to  be  admitted  as  a business  necess- 
ity. Although  the  development  of  public  service  has  followed 
long  after  the  newsgathering,  editorial,  and  advertising 
phases,  it  may  nevertheless  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  major 
functions  of  the  newspaper  and  the  most  significant  develop- 
ment in  the  field  of  journalism  in  the  last  twenty-five 
years. 

Civic  service  is  a broad  term  used  to  designate  any 
extra- journalistic  activity  that  is  carried  on  by  a news- 
paper toward  the  attainment  of  some  constructive  social 
good  or  toward  the  destruction  of  some  menace  to  human  wel- 
fare. This  end  is  usually  pursued  unselfishly,  often  at  a 
great  expense  to  the  paper  concerned.  Civic  service  pro- 
grams are  not  carried  out  primarily  with  the  idea  of 
creation  of  news  or  of  building  up  circulation,  although 
both  usually  accompany  any  such  project.  In  the  great 
enterprises  initiated  and  carried  out  in  the  earliest  period 
of  journalistic  civic  service,  these  motives  probably  ent- 
ered more  than  they  do  now,  but  the  work  of  that  era  was  the 
inspiration  for  much  that  has  been  done  in  a smaller  and 
more  altruistic  way  during  the  Hast  twenty  years. 

The  newspaper  is  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  kind  of 


3. 

work  designated  by  the  term  "civic  service".  Journalism  is 
by  nature  of  a fundamentally  social  character;  human  inter- 
course is  the  very  essence  of  news.  The  newspaper  reaches 
more  people  within  the  radius  of  its  circulation  than  any 
other  agency,  and  it  is  through  this  ability  to  reach  the 
masses  that  it  derives  much  of  its  power.  Most  public  ser- 
vice enterprises  need  only  three  things:  someone  to  start 

them,  someone  to  sponsor  them  after  they  are  started,  and 
some  medium  of  advertising.  She  newspaper  can  supply  all 
three  to  better  advantage  than  any  other  medium,  and  if  the 
project  is  a worthy  one,  citizens  will  usually  respond.  Of- 
ten it  takes  many  years  to  accomplish  an  end,  but  the  public 
good  usually  triumphs.  The  Detroit  Ilews,  for  instance,  waged 
a thirty  years’  fight  for  municipal  ownership  of  street  rail- 
ways, a campaign  that  was  successfully  completed  in  March, 

1922. 

In  many  cases  it  is  very  difficult  to  separate  the  work 
done  by  the  paper  and  that  which  should  be  credited  exclu- 
sively to  the  editor.  William  Bockhill  Dels  on  and  the  Kansas 
City  Star  are  inseparable  insofar  as  public  service  work  done 
by  both  is  concerned.  Joseph  Pulitzer  was  the  Hew  York  World, 

Ed  Howe  the  Atchison  Globe.  In  this  discussion  no  effort  will 
be  made  to  distinguish  civic  service  done  by  the  editor  indi- 
vidually and  that  accomplished  in  the  name  of  his  newspaper. 

The  greatest  growth  of  extra- journalistic  activity  has 
taken  place  since  the  opening  of  the  twentieth  century. 


4. 

Although  most  of  the  epoch-making  enterprises  came  before 
this  time,  the  aggregate  of  service  rendered  by  newspapers 
during  the  last  twenty  years  has  been  much  greater  than  the 
total  previous  to  this  era.  The  New  York  Times  Tweed  Ring 
expose,  the  New  York  Herald's  hunt  for  David  Livingston,  and 
the  early  activities  of  the  San  Francisco  Chronicle  were  all 
history-making  in  their  importance.  Present  day  activities 
are  much  less  spectacular,  much  more  local,  but  in  their 
aggregate,  much  more  significant  and  of  immeasurably  greater 
value  to  the  public.  Many  of  the  services  which  began  as 
distinctly  local  enterprises  have  expanded  into  national 
movements — the  Chicago  Tribune's  Sane  Fourth  of  July  and 
Good  Fellow  campaigns,  for  instance.  In  other  cases  the 
newspaper,  through  its  consistent  fight  for  efficiency  and 
accomplishment,  has  literally  built  cities.  The  histoiy  of 
Kansas  City  is  largely  a history  of  the  Star  and  Colonel 
Nelson.  The  work  of  the  larger  newspapers  in  civic  service 
has  been  extensive,  but  the  combined  services  of  the  thou- 
sands of  smaller  papers  have  probably  been  inestimable  in 
social  value.  There  is  nowhere  a record  of  how  many  country 
towns  have  secured  hotels,  paved  streets,  street  lighting, 
school  clubs  and  gymnasiums,  better  business  methods,  and  a 
progressive  community  spirit  through  t he  work  of  the  local 
newspaper.  All  this  work  belongs  in  the  great  mass  of  un- 
published charities  that  has  contributed  so  immeasurably  to 
the  welfare  of  millions  of  people. 


u 


. 


, 

* 


■ 


. 


5 


The  field  of  public  service  is  practically  limitless. 
Prom  the  fight  for  clean  politics,  efficient  government  and 
upright  business  methods,  the  projects  range  to  the  develop- 
ment of  educational  programs,  the  fostering  of  patriotism, 
the  accomplishment  of  an  unbelievable  amount  of  charitable 
and  relief  work,  the  promotion  of  health,  the  exposure  of 
all  kinds  of  frauds,  the  initiating  and  carrying  out  of  ex- 
tensive campaigns  for  municipal  welfare,  and  the  backing  of 
state  and  county  fairs  and  expositions.  Certain  classes  of 
activity — particularly  those  that  fall  into  the  classes  of 
political,  municipal  welfare,  and  charitable  and  philanthrop- 
ic, are  carried  on  by  practically  all  the  papers  which  go 
into  public  service  work  at  all  extensively.  Exclusive  of 
these,  the  great  variety  of  civic  services  performed  defies 
classification,  because  nearly  every  paper  has  developed  its 
own  unique  campaigns  adapted  to  its  own  community.  How,  for 
example,  would  it  be  possible  to  relate  the  efforts  of  a 
small  Hew  Jersey  paper  in  securing  the  discont inuance  of 
the  pew  system  in  the  old  churches,  with  the  manner  in 
which  the  St.  Petersburg  (Fla.)  paper  advertised  the  climate 
of  the  region  by  giving  away  the  entire  circulation  of  the 
paper  every  day  it  rained.  (This  gamble  with  the  weather 
proved  profitable,  for  the  paper  was  forced  to  live  up  to 
its  agreement  only  fifty-five  times  in  113  months.) 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  century  public  service  work 
by  newspapers  has  been  given  a considerable  impulse  through 


6 • 

men  and  organizati ons  actively  interested  in  it.  One  of  the 
first  stimulants  offered  was  the  Pulitzer  prize  of  a $500 
gold  medal  "for  the  most  disinterested  and  meritorious  public 
service  rendered  by  any  American  newspaper  during  the  year." 

The  first  year  (1918)  the  prize  was  awarded  to  the  Dew  York 
Times  for  the  printing,  in  full,  of  many  valuable  public 
documents  affecting  the  issues  of  the  Great  War.  In  1919  the 
award  was  made  to  the  Milwaukee  Journal  "for  its  strong  and 
courageous  campaign  for  Americanism  in  a constituency  where 
foreign  elements  made  such  a policy  hazardous  from  a business 
point  of  view."  Ho  award  was  made  in  1920.  In  1921  the  medal 
went  to  the  Boston  Post  for  its  exposure  of  Get -Rich-Quick 
Ponzi,  the  leader  of  one  of  the  most  gigantic  schemes  of 
fraudulent  financing  ever  attempted  in  America. 

Mention  should  also  be  made  of  awards  of  state  interest 
such  as  the  prize  offered  in  Iowa  by  the  Iowa  State  College 
chapter  of  Sigma  Delta  Chi,  men’s  honorary  professional 
journalistic  fraternity,  for  the  most  notable  community  ser- 
vice. In  January  1922,  the  South  Dakota  Publishers1  Auto- 
caster Association  offered  a loving  cup  to  the  newspaper  or 
editor  or  publisher  initiating  the  greatest  public  service 
during  the  year.  These  awards  indicate  the  increasing  inter- 
est in  the  newspaper  as  a means  for  the  promotion  of  public 
welfare  and  benefits. 

The  new  journalism  embraces  public  service  as  one  of  its 
great  functions;  a paper  that  is  not  serving  its  community 
in  some  way  other  than  the  mere  gathering  and  disseminating 


. 


. 


. 


* 


' . 


’ 


V 


of  news  is  lagging  behind  the  times.  It  is  the  paper  that 
has  served  its  community  in  some  unselfish,  public-spirited 
way  that  is  achieving  the  greatest  success,  both  as  a business 
enterprise  and  as  a good  social  influence.  The  schools  of 
journalism  are  generating  and  encouraging  ideals  of  service 
so  that  the  men  and  women  who  succeed  to  the  editor’s  chair 
in  the  next  era  will  seek  to  build  on  the  foundation  of  ser- 
vice to  the  community  as  the  first  requisite  of  a successful 
paper.  Such  a psp  er  grows  into  a community  until  it  is  no 
longer  a commodity  but  an  institution. 


■!! 


i 


■ 


, 

u 


8 


II. 

The  work  of  the  larger  newspapers  in  the  United  States 
in  civic  service  has  meant  the  investment  of  many  millions 
of  dollars,  far-reaching  and  often  spectacular  results,  and 
benefits  to  millions  of  people.  The  charity  work  has  been 
of  a direct,  effective  kind,  carried  out  without  slow  and 
complicated  administrative  machinery.  The  political  fights 
have  resulted  in  wide-spread  reforms  and  an  educated  public. 
The  municipal  enterprises  have  succeeded  in  accomplishing 
improvements  and  establishing  progressive  movements  where 
city  councils  had  failed  miserably  for  decades.  The  fights 
against  profiteering  have  had  a very  practical  effect  on 
family  budgets.  The  educational  programs  have  brought  a 
more  enlightened,  less  naive  public,  an  active,  living 
spirit  of  Americanism,  and  a public  that  has  been  helped 
to  help  itself. 

Usually  the  papers  that  have  performed  such  services 
are  backed  by  a solid,  dependable  good-will  of  the  public 
they  serve.  The  newspaper  and  its  public  believe  in  each 
other,  and  through  this  cooperation  advance  together.  When 
such  great  movements  are  viewed  in  their  totality  simply 
as  great  sociological  influences,  the  view  of  the  individual 
and  his  family,  the  single  mother  and  child  that  have  been 
benefited,  is  lost.  This  is  unfortunate,  for  it  is  just 
in  this  individual  aspect  that  newspaper  services  seem  the 
most  worth  while. 

The  work  of  a number  of  the  larger  papers  will  be 


discussed  in  some  detail  first,  followed  by  a general  class- 
ification of  the  civic  services  performed  by  papers  of  less 
power  and  influence* 

For  meritorious  public  service  in  many  different  fields 
of  work,  for  the  broadest,  most  farsighted  accomplishment, 
the  Kansas  City  Star  might  probably  be  awarded  first  place 
among  all  the  newspapers  in  the  United  States.  Most  of  the 
early  enterprises  originated  in  William  Eockhill  Kelson, 
the  editor  and  owner,  but  the  work  has  been  carried  on 
much  the  same  since  his  death  as  before. 

The  Star  has  <|5ome  times  been  called  the  paper  that 
"pulled  Kansas  City  out  of  the  mud.”  Certainly  its  inter- 
est in  city  streets,  good  roads,  and  transportation  is  the 
foremost  in  its  history.  In  "William  Eockhill  Kelson",  a 

7 

history  of  the  paper  written  by  one  of  the  members  of  the 

\ 

staff,  the  author  v/rites  of  Colonel  Kelson:  "Through  the 

years  of  his  editorship  of  the  Star,  he  printed,  it  might 
be  almost  said,  miles  of  argument  in  favor  of  good  roads, 
not  only  in  Jackson  county,  but  in  all  of  the  Southwest. 

He  sent  members  of  the  Star's  staff  to  good  roads  conven- 
tions; he  sent  out  lecturers  on  the  subject  of  good  roads, 
helped  lay  out  cross-state  and  cross-continent  highways, 
had  pamphlets  about  good  roads  printed  by  the  thousand  for 
free  distribution,  sent  men  to  the  legislature  to  help  draft 

and  pass  good  road  laws,  and  preached  the  gospel  of  good 
roads  and  good  streets  in  every  conceivable  form  of 


10. 


argument.”  The  Star’s  interest  in  transportation  was  not  a 
narrow  one;  it  went  into  the  subject  from  every  possible 
angle#  To  quote  the  author  of  "William  Roekhill  Nelson” 
further,  "Scientific  construction,  the  grading  and  draining, 
the  proper  width  for  economy  and  the  correct  crowning, 
foundation,  and  surface,  the  choice  of  materials  as  demon- 
strated by  experience  or  by  test  or  by  limitation  of  ex- 
penditure, guttering  and  curbing,  sidewalks,  the  adornment 
by  turf  and  by  trees — all  of  these  he  (Nelson)  studied  and 
discussed  in  the  Star.  The  effective  care  and  maintenance 
of  the  street,  the  building  of  bridges  and  viaducts,  the 
lighting  of  the  streets,  the  obstruction  of  si de walks,  the 
flushing  of  catch  basins,  the  projection  of  bill-boards, 
the  dripping  dirt  wagon,  the  reckless  driver  of  wagon  or 
motor  car,  the  proper  guidance  of  traffic,  the  sore-should- 
ered and  overworked  dray  horse,  the  encroaching  push-cart, 
were  details  of  the  mighty  subject  of  streets  which  he  kept 
constantly  before  the  public.  And  so  were  the  police,  the 
street-cars,  the  rules  of  the  road,  and  public  service  fran- 
chises." This  gives  some  indication  of  the  thoroughness 
with  which  the  Star  developed  its  campaign. 

Colonel  Nelson  loved  beauty  and  art,  and  he  sought, 
in  every  possible  way,  to  make  Kansas  City  a city -beautiful. 
The  park  system  was  fathered  by  him,  and  a complete  program 
for  educating  the  public  to  the  value  of  parks  was  carried 
out  before  the  movement  for  city  beautification  was  organised. 
Colonel  Nelson  himself  planted  elm  trees  the  entire  length 


* ' 


■ 


of  Warwick  Boulevard,  developed  his  own  nurseries,  studied 
grass  and  sod,  and  finally  imported  squirrels  for  the  public 
parks . 

Provision  wa s made  in  Colonel  Nelson’s  will  for  the 
gift  of  an  art  gallery  to  Kansas  City  after  the  final  dis- 
position of  his  estate. 

The  complete  record  of  the  Star’s  services  to  Kansas 
City  fills  a volume;  it  can  merely  he  indicated  here  that 
the  interest  of  this  powerful  paper  extended  through  clean 
politics--the  Star  boasts  that  it  is  for  the  best  man  regard 
less  of  his  party — and  that  it  was  responsible  for  the 
installation  of  the  commission  form  of  city  government.  The 
cheaper  and  better  lighting,  the  fight  against  franchise- 
grabbers,  the  securing  of  municipal  water  and  public  baths, 
the  building  of  Convention  Hall,  the  "navigate  the  river" 
movement,  the  abolition  of  grade  crossings,  the  lessening 
of  the  smoke  nuisance,  the  building  up  of  a system  of  pro- 
tection from  floods,  and  the  relief  expedition  to  noncom- 
batants in  Cuba  during  the  Spanish-Americ an  war,  can  merely 
be  mentioned.  Each,  in  itself,  is  a story  of  the  accomplish- 
ment of  some  far-reaching  civic  good. 

One  of  the  pioneer  movements  in  civic  service  was  begun 
by  the  New  York  Evening  Post  and  taken  over  the  the  New  York 
Tribune  in  1881 — that  of  a fresh  air  fund.  The  inspiration 
for  this  movement  came  from  a sermon  preached  in  Sherman, 
Pennsylvania,  by  a young  clergyman  who  had  once  fathered 


a mission  church  in  the  New  York  slums.  He  told  of  the  dis- 


tress and  suffering  in  that  part  of  the  city  and  urged  his 
congregation  to  assist  in  alleviating  that  suffering  by 
taking  children  from  the  tenements  into  their  homes  during 
the  summer.  The  Tribune  took  up  this  movement  and  developed 
it  along  two  distinct  lines.  First  it  established  fresh  air 
camps  and  homes  and  maintained  them  through  the  public  sub- 
scription fund.  In  addition  to  this  it  provided  outings  for 
poor  children  in  private  homes  in  the  country.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  many  movements  through  which  children  v/ere 
given  fresh  air  outings  in  the  summer  in  institutional  homes 
and  camps.  The  Tribune  now  maintains  ten  such  homes.  In 
1881  the  Tribune  sent  5200  children  to  the  country  for  two 
weeks;  in  1900  it  sent  7451.  In  the  summer  of  1920  it  sent 
more  than  15,000  to  the  country  for  two  weeks'  vacation  each 
at  an  approximate  cost  of  §7  per  child.  The  maximum  number 
was  sent  in  1892,  when  the  fund  was  large  enough  to  accomo- 
date 15,267. 

Other  enterprises  carried  on  by  the  Tribune  might  be 
mentioned:  the  theater  party  for  2000  orphans  during  Christ- 

mas week  of  1916,  the  campaign  that  secured  the  passage  of 
the  New  York  State  cocaine  law,  and  the  contest  conducted 
for  the  ten  best  planks  for  the  Republican  platform  in  the 
last  presidential  election.  The  Tribune  also  maintains  a 
tax  service  department  in  which  all  questions  pertaining  to 
income,  war,  and  excess  profits  tames  are  answered  without 
charge  by  experts.  This  paper  also  has  the  distinction  of 


13. 


initiating  what  has  proved  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  move- 
ments toward  clean  advertising  and  upright  business  methods — 
that  of  guaranteeing  every  inch  of  advertising  that  appears 
in  its  columns. 

The  He?/  York  Herald  was  another  of  the  pioneers  in  the 
field  of  service.  Its  first  and  perhaps  greatest  enterprise 
was  the  sending  of  Henry  Morton  Stanley  to  find  David  Liv- 
ingston, the  English  missionary  who  had  been  lost  somev/here 
in  Africa.  On  July  2,  1872  the  Herald  announced  that  Liv- 
ingston had  been  found  at  Ujiji  after  discovering  the  source 
of  the  Hile  river.  This  enterprise  was  net  widely  recognized 
in  America  at  the  time,  but  England  saw  the  full  significance 
of  the  undertaking. 

Another  of  the  Herald's  greatest  projects  was  started 
in  May,  1892,  when  the  Free  Ice  Fund  was  initiated  for  the 
relief  of  thousands  of  mothers  and  babies  in  the  Hew  York 
tenements.  The  Herald  began  the  fund  with  a subscription 
of  ^500.  When  the  season  closed  in  September  of  that  same 
year,  the  paper  was  distributing  40,000  pounds  of  ice  daily 
from  fifteen  stations,  to  more  than  12,000  people.  During 
1914  the  daily  average  was  700,000  pounds  to  22,000  famil- 
ies. The  ice  was  dis  tributed  on  presentation  of  tickets 
secured  on  the  recommendation  of  social  workers , physicians, 
ministers,  and  others  who  were  familiar  with  the  needs  of 
the  people  living  in  the  district  of  the  station.  In  1916 
the  contributions  went  above  §11,000,  all  of  which  came  in 


14. 

unsolicited,  and  the  total  distribution  for  the  summer  ms 
about  2,000,000  pounds. 

Besides  these  activities  the  Herald  has  gone  extensively 
into  public  service  work  of  a minor  character,  such  as  civics 
essay  contests  and  other  devices  to  encourage  the  develop- 
ment of  sound  citizenship  and  Americanism. 

Although  the  work  of  the  Hew  York  Times  has  not  been 
as  extensive  as  that  of  other  big  papers,  there  are  three 
enterprises  which  stand  out  particularly  as  notable  examples 
of  civic  service.  The  first — the  far-famed  Tweed  Hing  expose 
that  has  now  gone  into  history — resulted  in  the  overthrow  of 
the  ring  and  the  conviction  of  many  of  its  members.  Tweed 
and  his  followers  had  secured  control  of  Hew  York  City  and 
through  manipulation  of  public  funds  secured  enormous  rewards 
for  themselves  at  a cost  of  many  millions  of  dollars  to  the 
city. 

Before  the  Christmas  of  1912  the  Times  opened  a subscrip- 
tion for  the  relief  of  the  "Hundred  neediest  Cases”  in  Hew 
York  City,  the  names  of  whi c h we  re  chosen  from  lists  of  the 
four  leading  charitable  societies.  The  Times  related  the 
history  of  the  cases,  which  v/ere  usually  families  that  needed 
temporary  help  to  r egain  economic  independence,  and  out  of 
the  money  raised,  the  "Hundred  neediest"  were  cared  for,  and 
as  many  others  as  the  fund  would  roach.  The  subscriptions 

have  mounted  steadily  since  1912,  as  shown  by  the  following 
table: 


<• 


15 


1912 

1915 

1914 

1915 

1916 

1917 

1918 

1919 

1920 

1921 


$3, 630.88 
9,646.36 

15.032.46 
31,819.92 
55,792.45 

62.103.47 
81,097.57 

106,967.14 

111,131.00 

124,903.10 


Since  the  time  the  fund  was  started  many  of  those  who 
were  aided  in  early  years  have  now  become  contributors, 
and  through  it  many  orphans  have  been  adopted  into  private 
homes.  The  Times  believes  that  the  value  of  such  a fund 
lies  not  only  in  the  material  help  given  so  many  needy  fam- 
ilies, but  in  the  education  it  affords  to  the  general  pub- 
lic. It  was  for  this  reason  that  a standing  endowment  of 
$1,000,000  for  the  fund  was  refused. 

The  third  great  hobby  of  the  Times  has  been  centered 
in  the  care  and  development  of  the  ITew  York  parks.  The 
paper  has  waged  a series  of  campaigns  to  educate  the  popu- 
lace to  the  value  of  parks,  and  has  always  endeavored  to 
protect  the  recreational  centers  from  the  encroachment  of 
commercial  interests.  The  Times,  for  instance,  fought  the 
scheme  of  digging  trenches  in  Central  Park  to  advertise  the 
Liberty  Loan  campaigns  during  the  war,  and  succeeded  in 
preserving  the  park  from  this  mutilation  as  from  many  others. 

Of  the  newspapers  that  have  entered  extensively  into 
civic  service,  the  Detroit  hews  ranks  in  the  highest  class. 

In  the  fall  and  winter  of  1919  the  hews  undertook  to  interest 


16 


the  people  of  Detroit  in  the  value  of  fish  as  a meat  substi- 
tute. Great  Lakes  fish  were  selling,  at  this  time,  for 
twenty-five  to  forty-five  cents  a pound  and  the  consumption 
was  relatively  low.  The  Hews  secured  the  cooperation  of  the 
Bay  State  Fisheries  Company  of  Boston  and  shipped  into 
Detroit  by  special  train,  500,000  pounds  of  fish  a week, 
which  were  sold  from  fifteen  stations  for  ten  cents  a pound. 
Prices  of  other  meats  immediately  began  to  fall  and  a demand 
was  created  in  nearby  cities  for  ocean  food.  About  the  same 
time  the  Hews  published  a series  of  articles  on  reforestation 
methods  prompted  by  the  extremely  high  prices  of  lumber. 

These  were  reprinted  by  thousands  in  pamphlet  form  and  there 
followed  a complete  reorganization  of  the  department  of  for- 
estry in  Michigan  and  suitable  forestry  legislation. 

Another  of  the  Hews1  fights  against  profiteering  and 
high  prices  7/as  directed  against  the  exorbitant  costs  of 
bread  stuffs.  The  paper  conducted  a bread-making  campaign 
and  contest  in  which  over  tv/elve  thousand  v/omen  entered 
loaves  of  bread. 

The  Hews  printed  and  reprinted  a series  of  articles 
on  the  breakdown  of  the  patent  office  in  Yjashington,  thou- 
sands of  copies  of  which  v/ere  distributed  all  over  the  coun- 
try. The  results  of  this  ent  erprise  v/ere  not  immediately 
apparent,  but  have  since  been  accorded  recognition  by  Con- 
gress. 

It  was  the  Detroit  Hews  that  first  developed  the  interest 


17. 

in  the  Detroit  Museum  of  Arts,  now  the  Detroit  Institute  of 
Arts.  Both  James  E.  Scripps,  former  owner  of  the  News,  and 
George  G.  Booth,  president,  have  contributed  many  great  col- 
lections of  art  to  the  institute. 

Among  other  notable  activiUes  of  the  News  are  listed: 
the  reorganization  of  the  Detroit  liberty  Band  which,  ex- 
cept for  the  News,  would  have  been  forced  to  disband  on 
account  of  lack  of  funds;  a thirty  years’  fight  for  munici- 
pal ownership  of  street  railways,  successfully  closed  in 
March  1922;  the  proposal  of  the  canal-and -lagoon  system 
that  developed  Hog  Island  into  Detroit's  famous  "Belle  Isle" 
park;  an  annual  Good  Fellow  campaign  at  Christmas  time;  sev- 
eral intensive  campaigns  against  tuberculosis,  including  the 
setting  up  of  a sanitarium;  the  development  of  the  first  ex- 
tensive wireless  telephone  system  for  a new s service;  notable 
work  in  insuring  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  the 
Florence  Crittenton  Home  for  unfortunate  girls,  the  humane 
city  prison  (which  returns  a profit  to  the  city  and  pay 
prisoners  for  their  work) , the  replacement  of  the  prison 
with  a prison  farm;  the  establishment  of  psychological  clin- 
ics in  Michigan  courts;  the  establishment  of  juvenile  courts 
and  special  detention  places  for  young  prisoners;  and  the 
founding  of  a Young  Writers’  club  and  a Sunshine  society. 

One  of  the  greatest  projects  engineered  by  the  News  was 

the  workmen's  mission  to  Europe.  In  1889  when  an  Exposition 
was  being  held  in  Paris,  the  News  started  the  idea  of  sending 


' 


fifty  expert  mechanics  and  tradesmen  to  Furope  to  tour  the 
industrial  centers  of  England,  Belgium,  France  and  Germany, 
in  order  that  they  might  he  inspired  hy  the  master  crafts- 
manship of  the  old  T/orld*  This  plan,  carried  out  v/ith  the 
cooperation  of  the  government,  resulted  in  a series  of 
articles  of  industrial  interest  that  were  printed  through- 
out the  United  States. 

This  gives  a general  idea  of  the  extent  and  widely 
diverse  character  of  public  service  that  may  he  rendered 
hy  one  newspaper.  The  Detroit  ITews  has  found  that  public 
service  is  always  accompanied  hy  increased  good-will  and 
support  of  the  community  which  it  serves,  hut  it  finds  the 
true  test  of  public  service  to  lie  in  the  motives  which 
impel  the  newspaper  in  its  endeavors. 

The  Americanisation  campaign  of  the  Milwaukee  Journal 
mentioned  before  as  winning  the  award  of  the  Pulitzer  prize 
is  one  that  deserves  first  mention  for  unselfish,  effective, 
and  courageous  service.  The  Journal  was  one  of  the  first  to 
recognise  the  uncivilised  methods  used  by  Germany  in  co  nduct- 
ing  its  latest  war.  It  employed  a special  editor  to  trans- 
late and  follow  Geiman  propaganda,  and  during  the  course  of 
the  war  made  translations  of  over  five  million  words  of 
pro-German  matter.  The  Journal's  attitude  was  always  one  of 
"America  First";  it  was  one  of  the  first  papers  to  demand 
the  recall  of  the  charter  of  the  National  German-American 
alliance  after  presenting  in  its  columns  evidence  of  its 


19 


nefarious  activity.  It  exposed  a meeting  of  German  clergy- 
men conducted  against  the  national  government  hy  leaders  of 
the  American  Embargo  conference  who  were  afterwards  prose- 
cuted, and  uncovered  a mass  of  propaganda  by  which  Germany 
hoped  to  keep  America  out  of  the  European  conflict.  The 
Journal  also  opposed  the  election  of  Wisconsin  congressmen 
whose  records  had  not  shown  the  highest  type  of  Americanism. 
From  November  1915  to  November  1917  the  Journal  printed 
750,000  words  of  original  matter  not  printed  elsewhere  in 
the  United  States;  some  of  the  more  important  exclusive 
stories  were  sent  in  proof  to  all  the  great  nev/spapers  of 
the  country,  to  members  of  Congress,  and  to  other  influential 
Americans  in  all  parts  of  the  East  and  -Middle  'Jest. 

Of  the  western  papers,  the  San  Francisco  Chronicle  has 
been  the  most  active  and  the  most  enthusiastic  in  public 
service  enterprises.  The  career  of  the  Chronicle  has  been 
more  or  less  cyclonic,  for  it  has  stood,  many  times  in  its 
history,  as  the  single  champion  of  some  great  policy  or 
revolutionary  project  against  a whole  aggregate  of  "wild- 
west”  journs-lists.  The  Chronicled  political  wars  are  far 
too  many  and  too  complicated  to  tell  here,  but  its  services 
in  fighting  for  cleaner  politics  and  more  efficient  govern- 
ment have  been  more  than  praisev/orthy.  One  of  the  first 
great  civic  enterprises  of  this  paper  was  the  system  of 
weather  warnings  to  fruitgroY/ers  begun  in  1885.  fhe  Chron- 
icle had  campaigned  energetically  for  the  development  of 


20. 

the  orchard  and  vineyard  industries  of  California  and  had  made 
a special  study  of  the  culture  of  citrus  fruits  and  grapes. 

The  Chronicle  saw  that  great  losses  could  he  avoided  if 
weather  warnings  could  he  sent  out  to  the  growers.  The 
science  of  meteorology  was  Just  beginning  to  develop  at  this 
time,  and  although  the  national  government  had  provided  for 
the  rental  of  quarters  and  for  a certain  number  of  observers, 
there  was  no  provision  made  for  sending  out  such  warnings. 

The  Chronicle  thereupon  sponsored  a plan  by  which  weather 
signals  v/e re  sent  out  by  telegraph  over  a wide  territory; 
the  cooperation  of  local  stations  was  secured,  and  the  service 
furnished  to  growers  at  the  Chronicle's  expense.  This  scheme 
v/as  subsequently  taken  up  by  the  national  government  and  dev- 
eloped into  the  system  that  is  in  operation  today. 

Another  of  the  great  projects  fathered  by  the  Chronicle 
was  the  Mid-Winter  Exposition  of  1894.  M.  H.  de  Young,  one 
of  the  editors  of  the  Chronicle,  started  the  agitation  for 
a mid -winter  fair,  which  finally  culminated  in  the  magnifi- 
cent displays  in  150  buildings  which  had  all  been  erected  in 
four  months.  The  possibilities  of  ornamental  lighting  were 
here  first  demonstrated;  there  were  fireworks,  music,  parades, 
a midway,  and  many  displays  for  foreign  splendor — one  of 
which,  the  Japanese  Tea  Garden,  still  exists  in  the  Park. 

The  exposition  practically  stands  alone  as  an  instance  of 

an  enterprise  that  financed  itself  after  the  first  voluntary 
subscriptions  had  been  made.  Hot  one  cent  came  from  the  city, 


21 


state  or  nation. 

After  the  close  of  the  exposition.  Hr.  de  Young  secured 
the  consent  of  the  park  commissioners  to  leave  the  Art 
Building  in  the  park  for  the  creation  of  a museum  which  is 
now  one  of  the  foremost  institutions  of  Ban  Francisco.  It 
was  named  the  Golden  G-ate  Park  Museum,  and  Mr.  de  Young 
gave  to  it  many  valuable  collections  of  curios  and  antiques 
secured  during  his  travels. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  the 
ambitious  Chronicle  advocated  smooth  pavements  and  extensive 
irrigation,  advertised  the  climate  of  California,  and  devoted 
much  of  its  space  and  many  special  editions  to  descriptions 
of  the  resources  of  surrounding  territories  which  afterwards 
became  the  state  of  Oregon,  Washington,  ITevada,  Idaho,  and 
Montana.  In  1904  the  Chronicle  succeeded  in  exposing  primary 
election  abuses  long  prevalent  in  California,  and  in  the  same 
year  carried  out  an  extensive  city  beautifying  scheme. 

One  of  the  greatest  services  of  the  Chronicle  was  that 
rendered  at  the  time  of  the  San  Francisco  fire  in  1906.  The 
morning  after  the  disaster,  April  19,  the  "Bxaminer-Call- 
Chronicle"  was  issued  from  the  presses  of  the  Oakland  Trib- 
une, a modulating  force  in  the  midst  of  all  the  hysteria 
precipitated  by  the  fire.  The  Chronicle  led  the  rebuilding 
in  the  old  business  center  with  its  news  seventeen-story 
office  structure. 

On  Christmas  eve  of  1910  the  Chronicle  succeeded  in 
persuading  Tetrasinni,  the  great  prima  donna,  to  sing  for  a 


22. 

public  concert.  An  audience  of  100,000  people  heard  the 
program  given  directly  in  front  of  the  Chronicle  office 
that  night. 

Charles  de  Young,  son  of  If.  H.  de  Young,  originated  in 
1911  the  custom  of  providing  amusement  for  the  sick  and 
crippled  children  of  the  Children's  Hospital  and  the  aged 
inmates  of  the  Relief  Home  with  a Thanksgiving  entertainment, 
and  since  his  death  the  custom  has  been  perpetuated  in  his 
memory. 

In  1914  the  Chronicle  collected  a ship  load  of  toys 
and  wearing  apparel  to  send  to  the  children  of  the  belliger- 
ent countries  of  Europe.  Over  a quarter  of  a million  arti- 
cles contributed  by  San  Franciscans  were  shipped  to  Europe 
on  the  U.  S.  collier  Jason,  offered  for  the  purpose  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

These  facts  by  no  means  indicate  the  entire  range  of 
activities  entered  into  by  the  paper,  but  they  indicate  the 
tremendous  energy  expended  by  it  in  services  of  this  nature. 

The  civic  service  work  of  the  Chicago  Tribune  is  known 
principally  through  the  Sane  Fourth  of  July  and  Good  Fellow 
campaigns.  The  Good  Fellow  movement  began  in  1910  as  the 
result  of  a letter  written  to  the  paper  by  a reader  who  sug- 
gested that  the  Tribune  appeal  to  all  "good  fellows"  in  the 
city  to  send  in  as  Thanksgiving  and  Christmas  offerings  to 
the  needy,  the  money  that  would  otherwise  be  spent  wastefully. 
Since  this  time  the  movement  has  developed  into  a nation-wide 


23 


custom  sponsored  by  newspapers  in  many  different  localities. 

In  this  same  year  the  fresh  air  hospital  and  camp  for 
poor  mothers  and  children  was  opened  at  Algonquin,  Illinois, 
where  service  is  free  to  all  worthy  applicants. 

In  addition  to  these  services,  the  Tribune  drove  out  of 
Chicago  a veritable  host  of  clairvoyants,  quack  doctors,  and 
gold  brick  promoters.  During  late  years  it  lias  specialized 
in  such  campaigns  as  a monthly  gift  for  heroism  or  a weekly 
gift  of  $50  as  a politeness  prize.  During  the  period  of 
high  prices  in  meats,  the  Tribune  shipped  in  fifteen  tons 
of  fresh  ocean  fish  and  dis  tributed  them  at  a low  cost  from 
three  market  centers  in  an  effort  to  combat  profiteering. 

The  story  that  finally  resulted  in  the  investigation  and 
conviction  of  Senator  Lorimer  of  Illinois  for  election  brib- 
ery cost  the  Chicago  Tribune  over  $20,000.  To  the  Tribune 
credit  is  also  due  for  the  capture  of  a Milwaukee  avenue 
bank  president  who  looted  his  bank  and  escaped  to  Africa 
with  a large  sum  of  money. 

Joseph  Pulitzer  was  perhaps  the  greatest  exponent  of 
the  "journalism  that  does  things",  and  his  paper,  the  Hew 
York  World,  was  the  medium  for  the  practice  of  his  theories. 
Particularly  interesting  are  the  activities  of  a civic  ser- 
vice nature  entered  into  by  this  paper. 

During  the  endless  chain  of  gold  depletion  of  the  United 
States  treasury  during  the  Cleveland  administration,  the 
World  opened  a fight  against  the  operations  of  the  Morgan 
Syndicate  which  was  making  vast  profits  on  bond  sales.  The 


24. 

Y/orld  sent  telegrams  to  banks  and  financial  houses  all  over 
the  country  and  secured  support  for  a popular  loan.  Jsnuary 
3,  1896  the  famous  editorial  appeared  which  resulted  in  the 
saving  of  millions  of  dollars  for  the  government; 

"Trust  the  people,  Mr.  Cleveland  I You  can  get  all  the 
gold  you  need  in  Europe  at  l°/o,  or  less,  premium.  You 
can  get  it  in  our  own  country  without  paying  any 
premium  at  all.  An  issue  of  ^50,000,000  in  bonds, 
ample  for  present  needs,  would  be  subscribed  by  the 
public  many  times  over  at  3 percent  or  on  a 5 percent 
basis. 

"So  sure  are  we  of  this  that  the  World  now  offers  to 
head  the  list  with  a subs cript ion  of  one  million 
dollars  on  its  own  account.  It  will  talre  that  amount , 
and  it  will  promptly  find  and  furnish  the  gold  with 
which  to  pay  for  the  bonds.  The  whole  country  will 
respond  with  like  alacrity.  Europe  7/ill  clamor  for 
them.  Trust  the  People,  Mr.  Cleveland, 

"And  smash  the  Ring!" 

The  entire  issue  of  $100,000,000  was  over-subscribed 
six  times. 

In  1905-06  the  World  undertook  a gigantic  campaign  to 
reform  life  insurance  in  IT eY/  York  State,  which  ended  success- 
fully against  the  opposition  of  the  governor,  legislature,  and 
a coalition  of  business  ini  erests. 

Another  phase  of  the  Y/orld’s  activities  is  represented 
by  the  undertaking  in  1913  through  which  organized  play  and 
recreation  was  provided  for  half  a million  children  7/ho  could 
be  reached  through  playgrounds.  The  Y/orld's  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  children  is  also  indicated  in  another  slight, 
though  very  human,  service  to  the  youngsters,  7/hen,  after 
the  police  had  decreed  that  there  should  be  no  sleighing  in 
the  public  parks,  the  Y/orld  sent  out  men  to  investigate  and 


£5. 


report  on  safe  places  for  this  kind  of  sport,  and  subsequently 
reported  to  the  mayor  and  park  commissioners.  The  ruling  was 
revoked,  and  children  were  allowed  to  coast  in  the  places 
found  to  he  safe;  laborers  were  even  provided  to  keep  these 
hills  covered  with  fresh  snow. 

An  aesthetic  achievement  sponsored  by  the  World  was  the 
raising  of  a $30,000  fund  in  1917  for  the  installation  of  a 
permanent  lighting  system  for  the  Statue  of  liberty  in  ITew 
York  harbor.  Over  50,000  individuals  and  organizat ions  con- 
tributed. In  1885  the  World  had  sponsored  a $100,000  fund 
to  build  the  pedestal  on  which  the  statue  stands. 

Other  activities  of  the  World  too  noteworthy  to  be 
omitted  are:  the  crusade  on  gambling,  the  Americanization 

campaign  for  lew  York’s  foreign  population,  the  reform  of 
Sing  Sing  prison  conditions,  effective  campaigns  to  reduce 
the  price  of  bread  and  the  price  of  coal,  and  the  send-off 
dinner  given  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  to  30,000  members 
of  the  national  Guard  encamped  about  Hew  York. 

Any  adequate  discussion  cl  the  World’s  services  must 
include  also  the  recognition  of  Joseph  Pulitzer  as  the 
founder  of  one  of  the  greatest  schools  of  journalism  in  the 
United  States.  Pulitzer  offered  Columbia  University  an  en- 
dowment of  $1,000,000  to  establish  a school  of  journalism 
with  another  $1,000,000  conditional  upon  its  successful 
operation.  This  school  offers,  every  year,  a series  of  prizes 

for  excellence  in  various  phases  of  journalistic  activity. 


The  work  of  the  smaller  papers  is  difficult  to  handle 
because  of  its  heterogeneity.  It  is  manifestly  impossible 
to  include  in  this  discussion  any  exhaustive  classification 
or  list  of  the  work  done  by  a very  large  number  of  such 
papers  because  of  the  difficulty  of  securing  information 
concerning  them. 

A discussion  of  the  civic  services  of  several  representa- 
tive community  papers  will  serve  to  show  the  extent  and  char- 
acter of  such  work  in  the  smaller  papers.  An  attempt  will 
then  be  made  to  classify  in  a somewhat  general  way  the  social 
service  accomplishments  of  all  newspapers,  citing  a number 
of  papers  in  each  case  which  have  excelled  in  the  particular 
type  of  work  discussed.  The  classifications  are  not,  in  any 
sense,  rigid,  and  the  papers  included  do  not,  by  any  means, 
represent  the  total  number  of  those  engaged  in  this  kind  of 
work. 

The  Oakland  Acorn  of  Oakland,  Iowa,  which  was  awarded 
the  Iowa  Sigma  Delta  Ghi  cup  in  1920,  may  be  taken  as  a 
typical  example  of  a smaller  paper  that  is  actively  engaged 
in  civic  service.  In  this  year  the  Acorn  was  awarded  first- 
place  among  Iowa  newspapers  for  its  all-around  community 
spirit  campaign,  during  which  it  organized  a community  club, 
a town  band,  conducted  two  community  Christmas  trees,  marked 

the  roads  for  twenty  miles  each  side  of  the  town  with  guide 


27 


posts  calling  attention  to  the  free  camping  facilities,  and 
put  through  a number  of  municipal  improvements.  The  .year  1921 
was  devoted  principally  to  a campaign  for  a new  depot,  agita- 
tion for  better  mail  service,  and  boosting  for  the  establish- 
ment of  an  ice  plant  and  creamery. 

The  Fairfield  (Iowa)  Tribune,  the  winner  of  the  same 
prise  in  1921,  received  the  award  through  three  principal 

services: 

1.  Aid  given  to  the  cause  of  education  by  reason  of  the 
educational  number  which  the  Tribune  produced  in  the 
spring. 

2.  The  Tribune’s  activity  in  securing  for  Fairfield 

an  aviation  field  and  organised  company,  and  bring- 
ing to  the  city  the  largest  aviation  meeting  ever 
held  in  the  state. 

3.  The  Tribune’s  original  and  special  efforts  to  enlarge 
the  trade  territory  of  the  city’s  business  interests 
was  regarded  as  an  important  community  service  in 
that  it  tended  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  city 
and  vicinity,  to  attract  favorable  notice  to  the 
city  with  the  probability  of  increasing  population. 

A distinctly  worth  while  type  of  service  has  been  carried 
through  by  the  Journal-Chronicle  of  Owatonna,  Minnesota,  which 
adopted  for  its  motto  several  years  ago:  ’’Make  Steele  County 

the  Banner  Dairy  County  in  the  State.”  The  end  was  accom- 
plished without  reservation.  The  Journal-Chronicle  secured 


- 


. 

* 

- 


V 


28. 


the  cooperation  of  the  hanks  of  the  district,  which  agreed 
to  lend  money  to  Steele  county  farmers  if  they  would  invest 
it  in  the  purchase  of  the  tested  and  pure-bred  Holstein 
cows  and  bulls  which  were  to  be  sold  at  one  of  the  Hairy 
Center  Holstein  sales  during  the  county  fair.  The  cooper- 
ation between  the  town  and  the  country  was  thus  secured  in 
business  interests,  and  accounts  in  large  measure  for  the 
county's  high  standing.  Steele  county  holds  the  state’s 
record  for  butter  production;  it  has  twenty-four  cooperative 
creameries.  It  is  the  biggest  Holstein  center  in  the  state. 

The  work  of  the  Atchison  (Kansas)  Globe  is  attributable 
to  Ed  Howe’s  enthusiasm  for  a flourishing  community  spirit. 

The  keynote  of  the  service  performed  by  this  paper  is  that 
of  kinship — kinship  developed  among  the  people,  not  only 
within  the  city  limits  of  Atchison,  but  in  all  the  surround- 
ing territory. 

The  Globe  celebrated  its  birthday  some  years  ago  with 
a community  picnic.  Ed  Howe  himself  gives  a characteristic 
description  of  this  event:  "Fifteen  thousand  people  showed 

up  at  the  park.  There  was  such  a rush  on  the  trolley  even 
the  members  of  the  band  couldn’t  get  on  the  special  car  I’d 
arranged  for  them.  People  came  in  from  away  out  in  the 
country  in  wagons  and  buggies--people  who  were  starved  for 
a little  good  music  and  the  chance  to  rub  shoulders  with  a 

crowd  in  town.  You  know  in  those  days  before  the  automobile 
and  the  rural  telephone,  life  on  the  farm  was  pretty  monotonous. 


29. 


It  v/as  just  to  give  these  farm  folks  a good  time  that  I got 
this  idea  of  the  Globe’s  party.”  There  were  several  such 
big  family  picnics  for  Atchison  folk  in  succeeding  years. 

The  ”Gorn  Carnival”  sponsored  by  the  Globe  nearly  twen- 
ty years  ago  7/as  given  with  the  idea  of  booming  Atchison 
county’s  chief  product.  The  Thole  tov/n  dressed  itself  in 
corn;  there  v/ere  parades,  floats,  exhibits,  and  special 
bands,  and  the  main  streets  became  avenues  of  corn.  The  car- 
nival drew  crowds  from  three  states. 

The  Greenwich  Press  of  Greenwich,  Conn,  is  unique  in 
several  respects.  It  is  independent  politically;  its  ten 
men  and  women  directors  are  half  Republican  and  half  Demo- 
cratic. Furthermore  the  editor  and  manager  is  a v/oman — Miss 
Shirley  Putnam- -under  whom  much  energetic  campaigning  has 
been  carried  on  by  the  paper.  A three  months’  campaign  in 
1920  was  designed  to  defeat  the  ’’town  boss”  for  the  nomina- 
tion for  governor  of  the  state.  Through  a vigorous  editorial 
campaign  and  an  appeal  directed  toward  the  women  of  the  state, 
the  paper  succeeded  in  its  efforts.  Only  one  vote  7/as  east 
for  the  utov/n  boss”  at  the  state  convention,  7/hen  every  other 
paper  in  the  state  7/as  predicting  a sweeping  victory  for  him. 

In  June  1920  the  Press  opened  a campaign  to  improve 
political  and  living  conditions  in  Greenv/ich.  The  paper  aided 
in  obtaining  charter  revision,  cooperated  with  the  Social 

Service  League  and  the  Board  of  Health  to  improve  living 
conditions,  aided  in  mapping  out  the  tov/n  ior  tax  collection, 


29a 

and  entered  extensively  into  humane  measures  of  every  sort. 

The  paper  also  sponsors  a "neediest  Families"  fund  at  Christ- 
mas time  • 

The  Greenwich  Press  for  two  years  has  been  endeavoring 
to  obtain  a new  high  school  and  to  better  all  school  conditions 
in  the  town.  This  campaign  has  not  yet  met  with  success,  but 
the  paper  has  been  fighting  against  heavy  odds. 


Civic  service  activities  of  newspapers  may  be  classified 
roughly  under  the  headings  of:  Charitable  and  Philanthropic, 

Aesthetic  and  Recreational,  Municipal  ./el fare.  Economic, 
Political,  and  Educational,  with  a series  that  can  not  prop- 
erly be  included  under  any  of  these  in  a Miscellaneous  group. 

Charitable  and  Philanthropic  work  is  usually  carried 
on  in  cooperation  with  the  associated  charity  authorities, 
without,  however,  the  elaborate  administrative  machinery 
often  employed  in  ordinary  charity  w ork.  The  principal 
activities  in  this  division  center  about  the  Christmas  sea- 
son, although  a considerable  amount  of  v/ork  has  been  done 
for  the  relief  of  mothers  and  children  in  the  hot  summer 
months  through  free  ice  and  milk  funds.  Christmas  funds  are 
sponsored  by  the  Hew  York  American;  the  Hew  York  Evening 
Mail  (’’Save  a Home"  Fund);  the  Hartford  (Conn.)  Times;  the 
Chicago  Hews;  the  San  Prancisco  Examiner;  the  Cleveland 
Plain  Dealer;  the  Boston  Post,  the  Charleston  (S.  C. ) Amer- 
ican ("Third  Floor  Back”  Fund);  the  Manchester  (H.  H. ) Union; 
the  St.  Louis  Post  Dispatch;  the  Illinois  State  Journal 
(Springfield,  111.);  and  a whole  group  of  smaller  papers, 
especially  in  the  East  and  Middle  west. 

Representative  types  of  summer  relief  work,  including 
free  ice  and  milk  funds,  fresh  air  and  vacation  funds,  and 
playground  funds,  are  carried  on  by:  the  Indianapolis  Hews; 

the  St.  Louis  Post-Dispatch;  the  Troy  (H.  Y.)  Times,  the 


31. 

Chicago  Hews;  the  Winston-Salem  (IT.  C.)  Sentinel,  and  the 
Decatur  (111.)  Review. 

In  June  1920  the  New  York  American  raised  $27,579.4:7 
for  the  benefit  of  the  dependents  of  six  firemen  7/ho  lost 
their  lives  in  a Brooklyn  fire.  The  six  families  received 
$4000  each.  A similar  fund  7/as  raised  by  the  Hudson  (IT.  J.) 
Dispatch  for  the  widows  and  children  of  two  firemen  who  were 
killed  in  the  7/reck  of  an  auto  fire  engine  in  Union  Hill, 

N.  J.  The  Canton  (Ohio)  Daily  News  adopted  a boy  as  an 
example  in  a movement  it  led  to  force  the  state  to  make 
provisions  for  OhioTs  crippled  children.  The  News  v/as 

appointed  the  legal  guardian  of  the  boy,  who  was  placed  in 
a private  family  and  given  instruction.  The  New  York  Globe 
sponsors  benefit  performances  for  the  Sydenham  and  Flower 
Hospitals;  the  San  Francisco  Examiner  is  the  founder  of  the 
Little  Jim  Hospital  for  Incurables  and  the  Free  Eye  and  Ear 
Infirmary  of  that  city. 

Philanthropic  activity  among  the  newsboys  has  been 
quite  prevalent.  The  Milwaukee  Journal,  the  Columbus  (Ohio) 
State  Journal,  the  Pittsburgh  Press,  the  Indianapolis  News, 
the  Grand  Rapids  (Mich.)  Press,  the  Des  Moines  Capital,  and 
the  Cleveland  Press,  have  done  noteworthy  v/ork  in  this  line. 

Chaitable  and  philanthropic  v/ork  has  by  no  means  been 
limited  to  a local  or  even  a national  scope.  The  Christmas 
ship  of  the  San  Francisco  Chronicle  and  the  Kansas  City  Star’s 
relief  expedition  for  Cuba  have  been  mentioned  in  the  previous 
section.  The  New  York  Atlantis,  a Greek  newspaper,  collected 


32. 

$109,000  for  hospital  and  relief  work  in  the  Balkans  during 
the  war,  and  the  hew  York  Day,  a Jewish  paper,  secured  a 
ship  to  send  supplies  to  stricken  Jews  in  Palestine.  William 
Randolph  Hearst  initiated  and  carried  out  relief  work  for 
the  victims  of  the  great  lit.  Vesuvius  eruption. 

Of  all  activities  entered  into  by  newspapers,  those  of 
political  interest  and  application  are  probably  the  most 
general.  Since  most  newspapers  are  sympathetic  with  either 
one  party  or  the  other,  there  is  an  added  incentive  for 
extra- journal is  tic  activity  in  exposing  bad  urban  managment, 
corruption  in  city  affairs,  and  fraudulent  election  practices. 
The  newspaper  wields  a tremendous  power  in  influencing  votes, 
and  one  such  exposure  can  turn  the  tide  of  an  election.  The 
newspaper  is  the  best  and  most  effective  means  of  educating 
the  public  on  the  issues  involved  in  political  campaigns, 
and  it  has  been  largely  through  the  newspaper  in  late  years 
that  more  interest  has  been  awakened  among  intelligent  citi- 
zens in  taking  an  active  part  in  community  politics.  All 
the  larger  papers  have  had,  at  some  time  during  their  histor- 
ies, dramatic  episodes  centered  in  political  fights — the 
Tweed  Ring  exposure  of  the  Rev/  York  Times,  the  lew  York 
World’s  thirty  years'  fight  for  election  reform,  the  San 
Francisco  Chronicle's  defense  of  the  Constitution  of  1879, 
the  Chicago  Tribune's  exposure  of  bribery  in  the  Lorimer 
case. 

The  Cottage  Grove  (Ore.)  Sentinel  completely  cleaned 


33. 

out  the  Lane  County  court  house.  The  Kenosha  ( v/is . ) Lews 
led  a fight  which  had  for  its  object  the  reform  of  county 
affairs  through  the  grand  jury.  One  of  the  newest  campaigns 
of  the  Janesville  (Wis.)  Gazette  is  for  better  government 
in  its  city  and  county.  The  Kansas  City  Star’s  present 
campaign  is  an  attempt  to  secure  an  improvement  in  muni- 
cipal politics  by  inducing  a larger  number  of  people  to 
take  a hand  in  the  establishment  of  political  organisations. 
The  novelty  lies  in  the  determined  and  continuous  campaign 
to  urge  people  to  join  their  ward  political  clubs  in  advance 
of  the  primaries  and  so  to  have  a hand  in  determining  nom- 
inations. 

Enterprises  of  the  Aesthetic  and  Recreational  type 
include  the  Hew  York  Times'  interest  in  the  protection  of 
parks,  the  lighting  of  the  statue  of  liberty  by  the  Hew 
York  World,  the  San  Francisco  Chronicle’s  Tetrasinni  con- 
cert, and  the  many  Christmas  festivals  and  ent ertainments 
sponsored  by  newspapers.  Besides  the  entertainments  held 
in  hundreds  of  country  towns  through  the  local  papers, 
Christmas  festivals  are  held  on  a large  scale  each  year  by 
the  Chicago  Examiner,  the  Hew  York  American,  and  the  St. 

Louis  Post-Dispatch. 

All  the  city  beautification  campaigns  fall  in  this 
category.  Playground  funds  and  the  organization  of  all  kinds 

of  young  people’s  clubs  form  a broad  field  for  activity. 

The  Pittsburgh  Press  formed  a baseball  league,  a girl's 


' 


34 


club,  a young  folks'  league,  an  athletic  league,  and  a band. 
The  St.  Paul  Dispatch  and  Pioneer  and  the  Chicago  Herald- 
Examiner  both  sponsored  amateur  baseball  leagues.  The  Dew 
York  World  went  extensively  into  playground  work.  The  Cleve- 
land Press  provides  one  big  outing  every  year  for  its  news- 
boys and  their  friends. 

Municipal  Welfare  work,  in  combination  with  political 
activities,  forms  the  great  bulk  of  civic  service  work  done 
by  newspapers.  Municipal  welfare  work  includes  all  activities 
which  contribute  notably  to  the  advancement  of  the  city  as 
a social  unit  or  to  the  community  in  which  the  paper  is 
issued . 

The  Kansas  City  Star's  principal  enterprises  of  this 
nature  have  been  enumerated  in  Section  II.  The  Los  Angeles 
Examiner  floated  a §750,000  school  bond  issue  in  twelve  days 
after  no  bids  had  been  received  from  outside  banking  houses. 

It  also  incorporated  San  Pedro  as  a part  of  Los  Angeles  and 
purchased  the  land  connecting  the  two  towns,  making  Los 
Angeles  a seaport.  In  1912  it  obtained  an  appropriation  from 
Congress  for  the  deepening  of  the  harbor.  Both  the  Trent  on 
(D.  J. ) Times  and  the  Birmingham  (Ala.)  Dews  offer  loving 
cups  to  the  citizen  who  has  most  notably  served  the  city 
during  the  year. 

The  Cumberland  (Md.)  Times  performed  a noteworthy  ser- 
vice when  it  induced  the  Kelly- Springfield  Tire  Company  rath 
about  70GD  employes  and  their  families  to  move  its  plant  to 


* 


t 


0 


Cumberland.  The  paper  raised,  through  popular  subscription 
among  the  business  men  of  the  city,  4)750,000  defray  the 
expenses  of  removal. 

A similar  service  was  performed  by  the  Columbia  (S.  C.) 
State,  which,  through  a series  of  thirty  editorials,  brought 
a cotton  mill  to  that  city  which  was  so  successful  that  a 
second  and  then  a third  mill  were  built.  Both  the  Monroe 
County  Appeal  (Paris,  Mo.)  and  the  Ashland  (Xans.)  Clipper 
secured  municipal  water  and  light  for  their  communities. 

All  the  activities  described  under  the  Atchison  Globe,  the 
Journal-Chronicle,  the  Oakland  Acorn,  and  the  Fairfield  Tri- 
bune may  be  included  under  municipal  welfare  services* 

All  the  campaigns  for  advertising  particular  towns, 
usually  carried  out  in  cooperation  with  Chambers  of  Commerce, 
are  of  the  municipal  welfare  type.  The  unique  illustration 
of  the  St.  Petersburg,  Fla.  paper  v/hich  advertised  the  cli- 
mate of  the  district  by  giving  away  its  total  circulation 
every  day  it  rained,  will  suffice  for  an  example  of  such  an 
advertising  scheme. 

Economic  activities  in  civic  service  have  been  directed 
principally  toward  the  prevention  of  price  manipulation  and 
profiteering.  These  activities  were  particularly  prevalent 
during  the  period  of  the  Great  War  when  the  abnormal  rise  in 
prices  of  commodities  made  profiteering  possible.  Many 

campaigns  have  been  waged  to  hold  down  the  price  of  food 
stuffs.  The  Hew  York  Globe  and  the  Chicago  Tribune,  the 


36. 


Kansas  City  Post  and  the  Detroit  Hews  all  fought  the  high 
price  of  meats  hy  shipping  in  fresh  ocean  fish  and  distri- 
buting it  at  a low  cost  from  stations  in  different  parts  of 
the  cities.  Phis  was  done  on  the  most  extensive  scale  hy 
the  Detroit  Hews.  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  carried  out  an 
effective  campaign  against  the  high  cost  of  food  hy  urging 
citizens  to  plant  gardens  in  vacant  lots.  The  paper  offered 
three  valuable  building  lots  as  awards  for  the  best  gardens, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  contest,  an  exposition  was  held  of 
an  educational  nature. 

The  Cincinnati  Commercial  Tribune  became  so  keenly 
interested  in  price  manipulation  in  food  stuffs  that  it 
offered  the  full  use  of  its  columns  for  publicity  and  insti- 
tuted state-wide  proceedings  against  the  profiteers.  When 
it  failed  to  get  immediate  results,  it  appealed  to  the  gov- 
ernor through  whom  the  lagging  grand  jury  was  finally  aroused. 

The  Springfield  ( lias s . ) Union  conducted  a crusade  on 
rent  profiteering  and  realty  speculation.  The  San  Prancisco 
Chronicle  founded  the  Remedial  loan  Association  of  that  city, 
a valuable  economic  service  to  many  thousands  of  people.  The 
New  York  Dvening  Mail  conducted  a bureau  of  investigation  in 
the  particular  interest  of  finding  employment  for  those  over 
forty-five  years  of  age.  The  Kansas  City  Star’s  crusade 
against  high  freight  rates  and  its  "navigate  the  river" 
movement  were  successful  enterprises  of  this  general  type. 

The  Hew  York  World  in  1905-06  played  a leading  role  in  the 


37 


fight  that  resulted  in  the  reform  of  life  insurance  in  New 
York;  when  this  same  paper  opened  demands  for  an  investiga- 
tion of  the  high  price  of  coal  in  1916,  coal  dealers  dropped 
prices  from  $12  to  $9  a ton.  When  the  investigati on  began 
the  price  fell  as  low  as  $8.  state  officials  credited  the 
Hew  York  World  with  the  desirable  results  brought  about  by 
a state  inquiry  into  the  price  of  bread,  which  followed  a 
campaign  in  the  columns  of  that  paper. 

The  exposure  of  banking  frauds,  such  as  the  Get-Hich- 
Quiek  Ponzi  scheme  brought  to  light  by  the  Boston  Post,  and 
the  banking  fraud  investigated  by  the  Atchison  Globe,  rep- 
resent services  of  special  magnitude. 

Hearst’s  action  in  securing  an  injunction  to  prevent 
the  sale  of  ships  taken  from  Germany,  said  to  have  saved 
America  $50,000,000,  should  also  be  mentioned. 

Major  services  that  fall  in  the  Educational  class  in- 
clude the  Pulitzer  School  of  Journalism  in  Columbia  Univer- 
sity, the  Medill  School  of  Journalism  at  Northwestern  Uni- 
versity, the  Chicago  Herald’s  Industrial  Exhibition  in  1916, 
the  Milwaukee  Journal’s  Americanization  campaign,  the  San 
Francisco  Chronicle’s  Mid-winter  Exposition  of  1894,  and  the 
elaborate  series  of  lectures  that  for  many  years  have  been 
offered  to  the  public  by  the  Chicago  News. 

The  Brooklyn  Eagle  has  performed  distinctive  educational 
services,  especially  through  the  school  children  of  that 
city.  It  is  the  official  organ  of  the  Boy  Scout  movement. 


38 


The  Nashville  Tennessean  devoted  its  attention  to  the  school 
children  of  the  city  and  provided  a series  of  free  education- 
al lectures.  All  essay  contests  held  hy  newspapers  have 
for  their  aim  the  education  of  school  children;  these  are 
usually  conducted  at  the  time  of  some  national  holiday  or 
anniversary,  such  as  Lincoln’s  "birthday,  Washington’s  birth- 
day, or  the  fourth  of  July. 

Other  activities  that  fall  into  the  educational  class- 
ification are  the  special  editions  issued  by  newspapers. 

The  San  Francisco  Chronicle  lias  to  its  credit  an  elaborate, 
finely  written  series  of  such  editions,  such  as  those  devoted 
to  mining,  irrigation,  and  fruit -growing,  and  the  Pan-Amer- 
ican and  Japanese  editions. 

The  Columbia  (S.  C.)  State  entered  into  another  field 
of  educational  activity  when  it  established  a model  exper- 
imental farm  near  Columbia  to  help  farmers  make  land  more 
productive  and  to  raise  better  varieties  of  fruit  and  vege- 
tables. In  connection  with  this  a model  dairy  was  operated 
where  women  were  taught  efficient  dairying  methods. 

In  the  last  presidential  campaign  the  He?;  York  Tribune 
offered  $1000  in  prizes  for  the  ten  best  planks  submitted 
for  a Republican  platform. 

One  of  the  late  developments  designed  by  ne?;spapers  to 
meet  educational  needs  is  the  department  conducted  in  the 
paper  every  day  in  which  certain  types  of  questions  are 
ansv/ered,  and  certain  services  are  offered  gratis  to  readers. 
The  Hew  York  Tribune's  tax  service  department  is  a case  in 


39. 

point*  all  questions  pertaining  to  income,  war,  and  excess 
profits  taxes  are  answered  by  experts  without  charge.  The 
Chicago  Tribune  has  a medical  department,  an  etiquette  de- 
partment, a home  decoration  department,  and  a legal  service 
department  for  its  readers.  The  Chicago  Herald -Examiner 
has  a "Soldier's  Friend"  department  which  furnishes  free 
service  to  ex-soldiers  in  routine  affairs  with  the  govern- 
ment. The -Hew  York  Globe  "Our  Family  Music"  page  conducted 
by  Charles  D.  Isaacson  is  an  excellent  example  of  a success- 
ful department.  Thousands  of  letters  are  received  with  in- 
quiries concerning  the  purchase  of  instruments,  musical 
instruction  for  children,  and  choice  of  records,  roils  and 
sheet  music.  A Globe  Musical  club  was  formed  in  which  no 
dues  were  charged  and  all  expenses  were  met  by  the  paper. 

Sunday  afternoon  readings  were  held  when  a program  was  pre- 
sented by  some  eminent  musician  secured  by  the  Globe.  Two 
Globe  choruses  were  organised  to  meet  weekly  and  free  public 
concerts  v/ere  given. 

The  Chicago  Herald-Examiner  in  1916  started  a standard- 
ised food  department.  All  foods  advertised  in  the  columns 
of  the  paper  were  examined  by  chemical  experts  and  no  adver- 
tising space  was  sold  to  those  that  did  not  meet  the  pure 
food  requirements.  The  North  Adams  (Mass.)  Herald  and  the 
New  York  Evening  Mail  also  have  pure  food  pages. 

Civic  service  activities  that  fall  outside  the  preced- 
ing classifications  include  the  widest  possible  diversity 


40. 

in  types  of  enterprise  carried  on  and  in  the  value  of  the 
services  rendered. 

A whole  group  of  papers  have  carried  out  pure  food  cam- 
paigns and  exhibits:  the  Freeport  (111.)  Journal-Standard 

held  a pure  food  and  cooking  utensils  exhibit  in  1917;  the 
Philadelphia  Press  gave  a pure  food  sho w and  domestic  science 
demons tration;  the  New  York  Globe  waged  an  extensive  pure 
food  campaign. 

Many  activities  grew  out  of  the  abnormal  conditions  of 
the  war.  The  Chicago  Evening  Post  sponsored  a "Sammy  Back- 
er" fund  to  buy  tobacco  for  men  in  the  service.  A similar 
fund  was  raised  by  the  New  York  Sun.  The  Chicago  Tribune 
and  the  Hearst  papers  were  mentioned  in  the  United  States 
senate  for  their  intensive  interest  in  stimulating  recruit- 
ing. The  Monroe  County  Appeal  (Paris,  Mo.)  performed  a 
very  human  service  when  it  sent  home-made  cookies  to  all 
the  boys  from  that  county  who  were  in  camps. 

The  combined  services  of  all  the  newspapers  given  to 
the  government  during  the  war  in  floating  the  liberty  loans, 
stimulating  recruiting,  preserving  lav/  and  order,  and  main- 
taining a high  morale,  are  inestimable.  Millions  of  dollars 
worth  of  advertising  space  was  donated  to  the  war  department 
and  the  food  administration . 

Some  of  the  random  activities  v/orth  noting  include:  the 

better  baby  contest  held  by  the  New  York  American;  the  Chi- 
cago Tribune’s  campaigns  against  quack  doctors,  gold  brick 
promoters,  and  clairvoyants;  the  exposure  of  lotteries  by 


I . ' . 


, . 


< 


41. 

the  Los  Angeles  Examiner;  the  monument  to  Stephen  Poster 
erected  through  the  Pittsburgh  Press;  the  Brooklyn  Eagle" s 
fund  for  the  purchase  of  animals  for  the  zoo,  and  its  bureau 
for  the  benefit  and  accomodation  of  Brooklyn  people  opened 
at  the  San  Prancisco  exposition;  the  Pew  York  World's  crusade 
on  gambling,  its  reform  of  conditions  in  Sing  Sing  prison, 
and  its  send-off  dinner  to  50,000  members  of  the  national 
guard;  the  Allentown  (IT.  J. ) Messenger's  campaign  for  Sunday 
quiet;  the  offer  by  the  Denver  Post  of  ^£5,000  for  a cure  for 
the  influenza;  and  the  state  prison  reform  secured  by  the 
ITew  Haven  (Conn.)  Journal-Courier. 


Although  this  discussion  has  been  limited  largely  to 
the  services  that  were  initiated  by  the  newspapers  them- 
selves, such  enterprises  represent  only  a part  of  the  total 
work  accomplished  in  civic  service*  All  the  support  fur- 
nished by  newspapers  to  undertakings  that  were  initiated 
by  other  organizations  or  by  individual  citizens  must  be 
considered  a large  part  of  the  total  services  rendered. 

Such  support  falls  within  the  category  of  civic  service 
when  papers  make  a deliberate  attempt  to  give  prominence 
and  novelty  and  interest  to  projects  beyond  their  initial 
news  value  in  order  to  assure  their  success. 

A survey  of  the  extent  and  diversity  of  civic  service 
accomplishments  of  newspapers  in  the  United  States  is  not 
only  impressive;  it  is  stupendous.  The  activities,  in  their 
totality,  represent  a very  great  contribution  to  society. 

But  the  economic  value — the  mere  dollars  and  cents 
value — is  small  in  comparison  with  the  educational  value 
and  the  human  value.  It  is  as  if  some  newspaper  men,  be- 
ginning to  recognize  the  potentialities  of  a powerful 
paper  for  bringing  about  needed  reforms,  for  building  con- 
structively for  the  social  welfare,  for  alleviating  the 
sufferings  of  the  poor,  and  for  stimulating  a sense  of  cul- 
tural values,  are  seeking  to  utilize  those  potentialities 
to  their  limit. 

There  would  be  no  news  apart  from  human  values;  it  is 


43 


the  human  interest  element  alone  that  makes  news.  Hence  the 
men  who  deal  in  human  nature  day  by  day  in  all  of  its  aspects, 
lovely  and  unlovely,  are  quick  to  recognise  human  hungers, 
particularly  those  which  go  a little  beyond  the  bare  necess- 
ities of  life.  The  newspaper  entertains  no  illusions  about 
how  the  other  half  lives;  it  knows  the  other  half  in  all  its 
squalor  and  misery  and  poverty,  There  are  millions  of  others 
who  know  too,  but  the  newspaper  is  the  one  that  proposes  not 
only  to  sympathise  with  poverty  and  hunger  and  helplessness, 
but  to  do  something  about  it.  While  a whole  nation  of  sociol- 
ogists theorize  on  the  causes  for  a childhood  that  knows  no 
playground  except  the  city  streets  and  alleys  and  no  air 
except  that  of  the  slums,  a single  paper  raises  a popular 
subscription  and  sends  15,000  children  of  the  tenements  to 
the  country  for  two  weeks'  vacation.  Another  paper  builds 
a fund  and  gives  2,000,000  pounds  of  ice  to  relieve  the 
summer  heat  of  the  slum  districts.  And  while  uhe  children 
are  being  made  happier  and  healthier  a million  people  are 
learning  to  give  for  the  relier  or  those  who  are  less  for- 
tunate. 

There  is  not  only  this  kind  of  charity  work,  but  that 
through  which  individuals  and  families  are  once  more  enabled 
to  regain  their  economic  independence  after  misfortune  has 
visited  them.  This  means  that  these  families,  because  of  the 
aid  of  a newspaper,  are  no  longer  burdens  on  society, 
the  sociologist  who  deplores  the  newspaper  as  one  of  the 
worst  influences  in  society,  these  facts  should  give  at 


44. 

least  give  a different  perspective. 

Civic  service  is  not,  therefore,  in  any  sense  super- 
ficial, It  is  practical,  direct,  and  effective.  It  means 
a saving  of  human  courage,  of  human  energy,  and  of  the  fruits 
of  human  labors.  It  lowers  the  tremendous  waste  in  the  op- 
eration of  the  complex  machine  of  society.  It  tends  toward 
the  correction  of  elements  in  that  society  which  threaten 
the  welfare  of  the  majority. 

Civic  service  is  distinctly  a part  of  the  new  journal- 
ism. Just  as  '’service”  has  entered  into  business  as  the  basis 
upon  which  whole  minature  worlds  of  commerce  are  built,  so 
service  is  coming  into  journalism  as  a watchword  for  the 
editor  who  seeks  not  only  financial  success,  but  who  wishes 
to  contribute  to  his  profession  and  to  raise  it  to  higher 
planes  of  fairness,  charity,  and  uns elfishness.  The  news- 
paper man  is  in  more  than  one  sense  a public  trustee,  and  he 
should  be  able  to  say  of  himself  and  his  paper,  not  only, 

”1  have  made  a good  newspaper” , but,  like  Othello,  ”1  have 
done  the  State  some  service.” 


I. 


Appendix 

Allentown  Messenger,  Allentown  H.  J. 

Campaigned  for  Sunday  quiet. 

Ashland  Clipper,  Ashland,  Mans. 

Secured  municipal  light  and  v/ater  system  through  an 
unique  scheme.  After  repeated  attempts  to  secure  muni- 
cipal light  and  water,  all  of  them  unsuccessful,  the 
editor  attached  a generator  to  his  press  engine  and  fur- 
nished electricity  for  his  own  office,  Main  street,  and 
the  opera  house.  After  the  t own  had  become  accustomed 
to  the  light,  he  shut  it  off,  requested  the  mayor  to 
call  an  election,  and  the  city  immediately  voted  to 
install  a ^30,000  system. 

Atchison  Globe,  Atchison,  Mans. 

See  Part  III. 

Birmingham  Hews,  Birmingham,  Ala. 

Offers  a loving  cup  to  the  citizen  who  performs  the 
most  notable  service  to  the  community  each  year. 

Boston  Journal,  Boston,  Mass. 

Sponsors  a flower  and  toy  day  for  poor  and  sick  child- 
ren. 

Boston  Post,  Boston,  Mass. 

Maintains  a Christmas  fund  for  gifts  to  poor  children. 
Exposed  fraudulent  financing  scheme  of  Ge t -Hie h- Quick 
Ponzi.  A total  of  90,000  children  visited  in  1915. 

Brooklyn  Eagle,  Brooklyn,  Md. 

Does  extensive  work  among  children,  particularly  in  the 
Boy  Scout  movement.  Conducts  bird  house  building  con- 
tests, current  events  bees,  and  other  educational  pro- 
jects for  school  children.  Haised  public  subscription 
to  buy  animals  of  Bostock  circus  for  Prospect  Park  zoo. 
Huns  special  trains  to  all  national  expositions  and 
fairs.  Provided  a special  accomodation  bureau  for 
Brooklyn  people  at  the  Panama  Pacific  Exposition. 

Bureau  County  Republican,  _rinceton,  111. 

A live  community  paper.  Ho  report  received. 


* 


Canton  Daily  Hews,  Canton,  Ohio 

Adopted  a hoy  as  an  example  in  a movement  it  led  to 
force  the  state  to  make  provision  for  Ohio 1 s crippled 
children. 

Charleston  American,  Charleston,  S.  C. 

Maintains  "Third  Floor  Back"  fund  for  the  needy  at 
Christmas  time. 

Chicago  Bvening  Post,  Chicago,  111. 

Haised  "Sammy  Backer"  fund  to  buy  tobacco  for  men  in 
service  during  war. 

Chicago  Her aid -Examiner,  Chicago,  111. 

Put  in  standardized  food  department  in  1916  in  vyhich 
all  food  to  be  advertised  in  its  columns  was  examined 
by  chemical  experts  and  no  advertising  space  was  sold 
to  those  that  did  not  meet  the  pure  food  requirement. 
Printed  educational  articles  by  leading  food  experts. 
Organized  amateur  baseball  league  for  grammarschool 
boys.  Maintains  Christmas  fund  and  has  a Christmas 
entertainment.  Gives  free  public  musical  entertain- 
ments. Held  a land  and  industrial  exposition  in  1916 
to  demonstrate  the  rapid  development  of  the  United 
States  and  its  sister  countries* of  the  Americas  and  to 
show  the  new  opportunities  confronting  commercial  int- 
erests. 

Chicago  Hews,  Chicago,  111. 

Maintains  a Christmas  fund  for  the  needy.  Sponsors 
an  elaborate  series  of  free  lectures.  Has  free  ice 
and  vacation  funds. 

Chicago  Tribune,  Chicago,  111. 

See  Part  II. 

Cincinnati  Commercial  Tribune,  Cincinnati,  Ohio 

Waged  an  intensive  campaign  against  manipulation  of 
cost  of  food  stuffs.  Jerked  up  lagging  grand  jury 
action  by  appeal  to  governor.  Gave  full  use  of  its 
columns  for  publicity  and  instituted  state-wide  pro- 
ceedings against  offenders. 

Cincinnati  Post,  Cincinnati,  Ohio 

Conducted  a series  of  free  journalism  classes. 


III. 

Cleveland  leader,  Cleveland,  Ohio 

Entertained  1000  orphans  at  a Buffalo  Bill  show  in 
1916. 

Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  Cleveland,  Ohio 

Maintains  Christmas  fund  for  "Pen  Worthy  Families". 

Held  a vacant  lot  garden  contest  with  three  valuable 
building  lots  as  prizes  and  held  exposition  at  close. 

Cleveland  Press,  Cleveland,  Ohio 

Newsboy  welfare.  Gives  one  big  outing  each  year  for 
newsboys  and  their  friends. 

Columbia  State,  Columbia,  S.  C. 

Brought  three  cotton  mills  to  Columbia.  Established 
experimental  farm  near  town  to  help  farmers  make  land 
more  productive  and  to  raise  better  varieties  of  fruits 
and  vegetables.  Conducted  a model  dairy  where  women 
were  taught  efficient  dairying  methods.  Valuable  ser- 
vices during  the  war. 

Cottage  Grove  Sentinel,  Cottage  Grove,  Ore. 

Waged  clean-up  political  campaign  in  Lane  county 
court  house. 

Curnb er  1 and  Times,  Cumb er land  , Hd . 

Induced  Xelly-Springfield  Tire  Company  to  move  with 
7000  employes  and  their  families  to  Climber  land.  Raised 
v 750, 000  to  defray  expenses  of  removal. 

Decatur  Review,  Decatur,  111. 

Maintains  fund  to  pay  carfare  of  children  to  and  from 
the  cityTs  playgrounds. 

Denver  Post,  Denver,  Colo. 

Offered  $>25,000  for  a cure  for  the  influenza. 

Des  Moines  Capital,  Des  Moines,  Iowa 

Newsboy  welfare.  With  the  cooperation  of  teachers  in 
the  public  schools,  the  paper  has  manual  training 
classes,  gymnastics,  and  a glee  club.  Paper  fitted 
up  a gymnasium  and  library,  bowling  alley,  pool,  and 
cafeteria  for  newsboys. 


IV. 


Detroit  Dews,  Detroit,  Mich. 

See  Part  II. 

El  Paso  Herald,  El  Paso,  lex. 

Held  aviation  meet  in  1910.  Ho  report  received  on 
activities  since  that  time. 

Emporia  Gazette,  Emporia,  Mans. 

Active  paper.  Ho  report  received. 

Fairfield  Tribune,  Fairfield,  Iowa 

See  Part  III. 

Freehold  Transcript,  Freehold,  II.  J. 

Reported  as  active,  no  further  information. 

Freeport  Journal -Standard,  Freeport,  111. 

Held  pure  food  and  cooking  utensils  exhibit,  1917. 
Greenwich  Press,  Greenwich,  Conn. 

See  Part  III. 

Grand  Rapids  Press,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich. 

welfare  v/ork  for  nev/sboys.  Organized,  among  them, 
junior  and  senior  bauds;  started  a day  school  for  boys 
who  handled  noon  editions  and  extras.  This  school, 
under  a high  grade  teacher,  was  so  successful  that  it 
received  the  endorsement  of  public  school  authorities. 
Maintained  a cafeteria,  put  in  a swimming  pool,  and 
held  "Happy  Hour"  programs  every  Sunday  afternoon  with 
flag  service  and  motion  pictures. 

Hearst,  Y/illiam  Randolph 

Initiated  and  carried  out  relief  work  for  the  afflicted 
at  the  time  of  the  Lit.  Vesuvius  eruption.  Mentioned 
in  Senate  for  efforts  to  stimulate  recruiting.  Secured 
an  injunction  to  prevent  sale  of  ships  taken  from 
Germany,  to  prevent  enormous  loss  to  the  government. 

Houston  Chronicle,  Houston,  Tex. 

Excellent  work.  Ho  report. 


V 


Hudson  Dispatch,  Union  Hill,  IT,  J, 

Started  relief  fund  for  two  volunteer  firemen  killed 
in  the  wreck  of  an  auto  fire  engine,  1917.  Raised 
05000  in  four  days. 

Indianapolis  Hews,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

Built  a fresh  air  village  for  sick  women  and  children. 
Built  several  public  monuments.  Newsboy  welfare. 

Janesville  Gazette,  Janesville,  Wis. 

Campaigns  for  better  government. 

Journal-Chronicle,  Owatonna,  Minn. 

Pure  bred  cattle  campaign.  Secured  the  cooperation  of 
business  interests  with  the  farmers.  Made  Steele 
county  the  banner  dairy  county  in  the  state.  County 
hold’s  state's  record  for  butter  production.  Crusade 
among  Bohemians  for  one  hundred  percent  Ahe  ric an ism. 

Journal-Courier,  Nev/  Haven,  Conn. 

State  prison  reform  under  N.  S.  Osborn. 

Kansas  City  Post,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Nought  high  prices  of  meats  by  shipping  in  fresh 
ocean  fish.  Secured  subscriptions  of  O5000  for  a 
gift  to  General  Pershing  of  a gold  sword. 

Kansas  City  Star,  Kansas  City,  Kans. 

See  Part  II. 

Kenosha  News,  Kenosha,  Wis. 

Secured  commission  form  of  government.  Cleaned  up 
county  politically  through  the  grand  jury. 

Los  Angeles  Kzaminer,  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

Floated  a $750,000  school  bond  issue  in  twelve  days 
after  no  bids  had  been  received  from  outside  banking 
houses.  Incorporated  San  Pedro  as  a part  of  Los  Angeles 
and  purchased  the  land  connecting  the  two  towns,  making 
Los  Angeles  a seaport.  Secured  appropriation  from  1912 
Congress  for  deepening  of  harbor,  iixposed  lotteries 
that  were  costing  Californians  over  ^4, 000, 000  yearly. 


■ 


. 


VI 


Manchester  Union  & Leader,  Manchester,  N.  H. 

Gave  Christmas  party  for  700  poor  children  through  the 
St.  Nicholas  girl,  the  head  of  the  wcm an 1 s department. 

A supper,  a Christmas  tree,  music,  and  gifts  were  fur- 
nished and  the  entire  staffs  of  both  papers  took  part. 

Minneapolis  Daily  News,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

Entertained  old  ladies  from  Minnesota  Home  for  the  Aged 
in  1916. 

Milwaukee  Journal,  Milwaukee,  Y/is. 

See  Part  II. 

Monroe  County  Appeal,  Paris,  Mo. 

See  Part  III. 

Nashville  Pennessean,  Nashville,  Penn. 

Devoted  its  attentions  to  school  children  of  the  city 
and  provided  public  lectures  to  amuse,  entertain,  and 
instruct. 

New  Orleans  Item,  New  Orleans,  La. 

Suggested  that  Wilson’s  war  message  be  read  in  the 
schools;  furnished  copies. 

New  York  American,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Raised  $>27, 579.47  for  the  dependents  of  six  firemen 
who  lost  their  lives  in  a Brooklyn  fire,  1920.  Holds 
essay  contests  for  children.  Sponsors  Christmas  fund 
and  Christmas  entertainment.  Held  better  baby  contest 
1916  in  which  30,000  babies  were  entered. 

New  York  Atlantis,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Secured  subscriptions  amounting  to  $>109, 000  for  hospital 
and  relief  work  in  the  Balkans  during  the  Balkan  cam- 
paigns. 

New  York  Day,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Secured  ship  to  send  supplies  to  striken  Jews  in  Pales- 
tine. 

New  York  Evening  Mail,  N ew  York,  N.  Y. 

Opened  bureau  to  find  employment  for  those  over  forty- 


VII. 


five  years  of  age.  Pure  food  campaigns  under  Paul 
Pierce.  "Save  a Home"  Christmas  fund;  collected  toys 
at  Christmas  time  for  many  years. 

Hew  York  Globe,  Hew  York,  H.  Y. 

Sponsors  benefits  for  the  Sydenham  and  Flower  hospitals. 
"Our  family  Music"  page,  and  extensive  work  in  musical 
education.  Camuai^ned  against  high  cost  of  foods  by 
placing  large  quantities  of  Hew  Zealand  lamb  on  sale 
at  a low  price.”  Extensive  pure  food  campaign.  Also 
held  fresh  fish  sales. 

Hew  York  Herald,  Hew  York,  H.  Y. 

See  Part  II. 


Hew  York  Sun,  Hew  York,  H.  Y. 


Gave  out  free  bread  to  the  needy  1916  in  famous  "Bread 
line".  Sent  John  H.  Hears  on  record  trip  around  the 
world.  Raised  smoke  fund  for  men  in  service  during  war. 

Hew  York  Times,  Hew  York,  IT.  Y. 

See  Part  II. 


Hew  York  Tribune,  Hew  York,  H.  Y. 
See  Part  II. 

He?/  York  World,  Hew  York,  H.  Y. 
See  Part  II. 


North  Adams  Herald,  north  Adams,  Mass. 

Pure  food  campaigns  in  1917  which  were  linked  up  with 
the  advertising. 

Ohio  State  Journal,  Columbus,  Ohio. 

Raised  $6000  in  Christmas  of  1915  from  the  sale  of 
extra  editions  for  a charity  newsboys  fund. 

Oakland  Acorn,  Oakland,  Iowa. 


See  Part  III. 

Pendleton  Tribune,  Pendleton,  Ore. 

Fought  graft  in  county  affairs  and  in  district  attor- 
ney’s office  in  Umatilla  county. 


. 


VIII. 

Philadelphia  Press,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Held  pure  food  show  and  domestic  science  lectures  and 
demonstrations  in  1917. 

Philadelphia  Times,  Philadelphia  Pa. 

Has  flower  and  toy  day  for  poor  and  sick  children. 

Pittsburgh  Press,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Started  a subscription  for  §40,000  to  build  a home  for 
newsboys  of  the  city.  Haised  fund  to  erect  a monument 
to  the  memory  of  Stephen  Poster,  a native  of  Pittsburgh. 
Started  a young  folks'  league,  a baseball  club,  a band, 
two  clubs  for  girls,  and  an  athletic  league. 

Pittsburgh  Sun,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Held  a "Mermaid  Meet"  at  lake  Elisabeth  in  which  200 
boys  and  girls  participated  before  a crowd  of  7000 
to  provide  an  outing  for  crippled  children  of  the  city 
who  were  invited  as  guests  of  the  Sun  and  for  whose 
benefit  the  meet  was  given. 

San  Prancisco  Examiner,  San  Praneisco,  Cal. 

Campaigned  for  city  beautification.  Erected  Little 
Jim  Hospital  for  Incurables  and  the  Pree  Eye  and  Ear 
Infirmary  for  unfortunate  children  of  the  poorer  classes. 

San  Prancisco  Chronicle,  San  Prancisco,  Cal. 

See  Part  II. 

St.  Louis  Pos t -Dispatch,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Holds  gigantic  Christmas  entertainments  at  which  thou- 
sands of  families  are  supplied  with  baskets  through 
the  Christmas  P estival  fund.  Has  maintained  summer 
milk  and  ice  fund  for  eighteen  years.  In  1921  this 
fund  amounted  to  §15,685. 

Springfield  Union,  Springfield,  .lass. 

Crusaded  against  rent  profiteering  and  realty  specu- 
lation. 

St.  Paul  Dispatch  and  Pioneer,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

Sponsored  school  baseball  league. 


IX. 

Trenton  Times,  Trenton,  IT.  J. 

Offers  a S500  loving  cup  to  citizen  who  serves  the 
city  best  each  year. 

Troy  Times,  Troy,  U.  Y. 

Fresh  air  fund  raised  by  which  hundreds  of  children 
get  o wo  weeks*  vacation  in  the  fresh  air  home  erected  by 
the  Times  in  the  mountains  of  Bensselaer  County. 

Y/ichita  Beacon,  Wichita,  Zans. 

ITo  report  received. 

Wichita  Bagle,  Wichita,  Zans. 

ITo  report  received. 

Winston-Salem  Sentinel,  Winston-Salem,  IT.  C. 

Free  milk  and  ice  fund. 

'Worcester  Telegram,  Worcester,  Mass. 

Newsboy  welfare. 


